The Ghost who Walks
by Mountain King
Summary: Buffy finds a new... or should that be old, ally to help in the battle against evil. She also gets a new pet.


Ghost Who Walks

Authors Introduction:-

Alright, this is NOT an ongoing story. I have far too many of those already. Originally I started this off as a challenge that no one has accepted, but hitting a bit of writers block I decided to switch focus to clear the cobwebs and this just appeared. Now I might dip back into this again, as I have a couple of ideas I might want to explore but nothing serious. Otherwise anyone that wants to pick up and run with this idea can do so, just forward me a link so I can read it!

Disclaimer

I don't own any recognisable characters used in this story.

* * *

Xander left the diner after a double shift, his hands felt stiff after washing so many dishes. During his fabulous failed road trip he had gotten almost ten miles out of Sunnydale when the rust holding his car together finally let go. To make things worse he'd been fleeced by the towing company and had to sell what was left of it as scrap to cover his overly expensive motel bill. That meant he was left washing dishes at a crappy roadside diner to pay for a bus ticket home.

Home. Sunnydale. Once there what would he do then? The old scooby gang were going to be in College and he would be… Xander. The goofball screw up who's big plans to see the world got him as far as Oxnard. No future, no plans and most important of all no money

The idea of going home and living with his parents again almost made him shudder, but was all he had. He was still mulling over his options, what they were, on his way back to the Motel when he realised someone was following him. You didn't survive Sunnydale without picking up some survival instincts. The sun hadn't set yet, but it was low enough to cast some long shadows.

Xander kept in the light as best he could until he found an open space. Somewhere where whoever it was couldn't sneak up on him. 'Alright. you want to go? I'm ready, but you're not the first monster I've deal with.' He bluffed, reaching into his jacket for his emergency stake.

Instead of a vampire though what looked like a normal guy stepped out in into sight. 'Greetings Alexander. I come as a friend.' he had dark skin and greying hair under what looked like a turban.

'Okay, so not a vampire.' He reasoned, 'and the name's Xander.'

'Xander then. I must talk with you. About your father and your destiny.'

'Huh?'

The strange man bowed to him. 'You know that Tony Harris is not your true father. At the request of your mother he stayed away. It was her hope that my master would find another heir. This was not so.'

'Master?' Xander asked, this guy wasn't a vampire, but he could still be dangerous. 'What are you talking about?' That Tony wasn't his real dad wasn't a surprise. The drunk bastard had said as much multiple times, but that his mother had told his biological father not to show his face was a surprise. He'd just assumed he never knew.

'My master was your father. I served him, as my ancestors have served your family for centuries.' He held out a hand, in it was a silver ring in the shape of a skull Xander felt was somehow familiar. 'Now the responsibility has passed on to you, my new master to fulfil the oath taken so many years ago.'

* * *

 _Three months later:-_

Giles covered a yawn, it was far too early for this sort of thing. Olivia was still in bed and utterly refusing to get up. There was another knock and Giles looked at the clock again. Opening the door he scowled at the small blonde on his doorstep.

'Buffy, I am retired. I am not your Watcher, nor am I your librarian. Half past four in the morning is time for sleeping. Not waking people up.'

'You weren't in the middle of something were you?' she asked nervously.

Giles glared at her for a long second. 'Sleeping.' he said eventually.

'Okay…' She got the point. 'It's just, well, something really weird happened and…'

'…It could not wait until the sun had rose in the sky.' He pointed out before shaking his head. Truth was he was glad she still trusted his judgement, even if her timing was bad. 'Come in, I'll brew up.'

Heading into his kitchen Giles checked the kettle and set it to boil. 'Start at the beginning.' he told her, spooning a heap of coffee into his cup and a smaller one into another.

'Well I was on patrol…'

* * *

Buffy was still a little snarky about the vampire gang on Campus. They caught her at a bad time and while she was busy feeling sorry for herself they'd broken into her dorm room and stolen her stuff.

They even left a note saying she couldn't take the pressure. It had taken a lot of fast talking to convince the College Registry it was just a prank from a few old friends. Buffy eventually tracked them down to their hideout, only to find out something had spooked them.

They'ed up sticks and left. There were some suspicious piles of dust here and there, but not enough to be all of them. Buffy had found most of her stuff and got it back. Now, aside from the usual, all she had to worry about was Willow being miss perky USA, a roommate that liked Celine Dion almost too much and her new Psychology tutor dumping coursework like it was an olympic sport.

Getting out and patrolling was the only thing that felt normal to her in the ever increasingly freaky college life. So far tonight she'd found a couple of vampires trying to start up another gang and a demon that had too many eyes, teeth and not enough manners.

She was on her way out of one of the many wonderful Sunnydale cemeteries, leaving the demon with wandering eyes to rot in yet another empty grave, when a shadow passed behind her. Buffy would have missed it if she wasn't a Slayer. Whatever it was had been absolutely silent. Even vampires rustled leaves or something, it just seemed to glide past the corner of her eye. Spinning a stake in her hand Buffy tried to follow as whatever it was moved again. Coming out from around a gravestone Buffy couldn't get a good look before it leaped up and over the wall with impossible grace.

Running around to see what was stalking her Buffy came to a stop when she saw the creature was sat in the road, right under a street light. She gasped. It was a huge cat, it's shiny coat so black that it had an almost purple shine to it and a pair of huge, wonderful, golden green eyes.

'Nice kitty. Good kitty.' She whispered, lowering the stake. Buffy was a Vampire Slayer, that didn't mean she was confident going up against something like this. It's paws were the size of her head and it had enough mass tom make two of her. One good swing was all it would take and she didn't favour her stake doing much more than a splinter would to this thing.

As it looked at her the beast tilted it's head, almost as if it was asking her a question. Then it leapt into action again, moving as only a cat could away from her. With two great bounds it was under the next street light and stopped again.

Buffy got the strangest feeling it was trying to get her to follow it. Something she had no intention of doing. 'You go your way Kitty. I'll go mine.' she said under her breath and backed slowly away.

She hadn't gone ten yards before the cat was there again. This time it had gone around to stop in front of her, blocking her way.. Either that or there was more than one of them stalking her. 'Hi there, again. I guess you won't take no for an answer.'

It roared back softly, almost as if it understood her, and slowly took a step forward. Buffy wasn't afraid of much, but a giant black cat stalking her like she was it's lunch would make anyone nervous. She tried to move right and then left, but as she did Buffy could see the animal shift it's weight. Ready to pounce if she made the wrong move.

Instead she decided to let it force her backwards, step by step. 'Captured by a kitty cat. I don't know if I'll ever live this one down.' She grumbled before heading in the right direction.

It didn't take long for Buffy to realise where she was being pushed. Angel's old mansion on Crawford Street. It had been abandoned since Angel left for LA. There were rumours it was going to be pulled down, but then someone bought it over the summer and moved in.

Escorted by her new best friend Buffy made it to the door before it ran off and up the wall. She was about to knock when it was opened from the inside. 'Urm Hi… This might sound weird…'

'Miss Buffy Summers. I am Akachi. You are expected.' The man at the door was about Giles's age, maybe a little older. Tall, dark skinned and wore what Buffy could have sworn was a crisp suit. He was almost a Watcher, if it wasn't for his strange, not english, accent and turban. He bowed slightly to her as he stepped back, leaving the door open for her.

Shrugging Buffy stepped inside and looked around, careful for any ambush or sudden attack. 'I love what you've done with the place. Early caveman jungle with an African look, right? I was thinking of doing the same, but it clashed with the curtains.' Who ever they were they'd remodelled the whole inside of the building. All the concrete and sharp angles had been replaced with what looked like hand caved stone. Instead of the original tables and chairs there was a large stone slab that was sort of like a table. The fire place was still pretty much the same but it felt larger and was the main source of light. It's flickering light cast dancing shadows all over the place while long torches burned quietly in the nooks. Outside in the patio she could see what looked like a jungle with large logs and lots of plants that were creeping into the cave like room.

'It is a reminder of where we are from, as well as the traditional home of my master; The Ghost Who Walks.' The strange man gestured off to one side, where the sitting area had been. Instead there was a huge stone throne, with a high back and low arms. It looked like the only chair in the place and Buffy wasn't sure if even she could move it in on piece.

'The Ghost Who Walks? Don't most ghosts, you know, walk?' She asked taking in the strangeness that had become her life.

Akachi smiled and carefully shook his head. 'Possibly, but not all walk as a man.' With that he looked pointedly back to the chair. She followed and saw someone was sitting in it. She couldn't have turned her head for more than a few seconds and they had appeared.

Whoever they were, they weren't going to win any fashion awards. They wore a one piece purple unitard, with a heavy black leather belt, boots and domino mask over the eyes. The unitard had a hood over it that covered most of the rest of their head. It was like Batman had lost his cape and all sense of style. Still there was something instantly familiar about them, but in the bad light and the silly costume she couldn't tell what.

'You've got to be kidding me.' Buffy laughed.

'We are not.' The not-watcher said deadly seriously as he stood next to the overly muscled grapefruit. 'I present my master; The Phantom. For four hundred years my people have served him as he too battled evil. Both the mortal and mystical. We recently learnt of your city and it's importance in the great war between good and evil. At my master's urging we traveled here, to offer you our aid.'

Buffy looked at them, trying to keep her face straight. 'So a guy that thinks they're the purple power ranger wants to help fight vampires. Thanks for the offer, but I don't need a sidekick.'

They laughed politely at her as the big cat appeared out of nowhere as it walked past her, only to sit at the purple guy's feet. As he scratched it between the ears, something Buffy was sure she wasn't going to try, Buffy saw a large silver ring on his finger. It was in the shape of a skull and almost glowed in the firelight.

'We are not asking, and my master is not a sidekick. We are offering to be allies. In this place great darkness dwells, only a fool would not accept help fighting it.' As the not-watcher spoke the purple guy stood up. He might have been in a unitard but he was in shape. Holding a hand out he waited as from above a huge bird swept down and plucked something out of his fist.

It flew around in a tight circle once or twice before going straight for Buffy. Before she could back off it swooped over her head and had dropped whatever it taken. Picking it up Buffy saw it was a penny-whistle. 'His name is Wrok and he is now yours.' Akachi told her. 'He will protect you, carry messages for us and serve you as eyes and ears where you are not.'

Buffy turned the tin whistle over in her hands and then looked back at the bird, that had perched on a out jutting rock and was glaring at her intently. Taking a breath she faced the two of them again, half expecting mr personality to have vanished. He hadn't. While she could tell he was watching her carefully the mask hid his eyes. 'You're going to stick around, no matter what I say aren't you?'

'Yes. Do we have an arrangement?'

* * *

Giles looked at the blonde Slayer for a long moment. Taking off his glasses and polishing them he tried to gather his thoughts; 'The Ghost Who Walks is in Sunnydale?'

'You have heard of him then?' she asked, not sounding as if she believed him. He nodded, remembering the legends. 'He's a jungle sprit of some description, from the deepest parts of South Africa. He was very active in the 30's and 40's before vanishing, as it is said he often does. The story goes he is immortal. Un-killable. Over the centuries many have claimed that they have actually killed him, even taking trophies from the body, but he keeps coming back. Stronger.' Putting his glasses back on Giles stood up and began pacing.

'He's not got some funky power has he, or it? You know shape shifting or something?'

'No, at least not as we understand it. However, he is said to have a strong affinity for animals. In tune with nature as it were. Like I said he's a jungle sprit, that's fairly common for them.' He took a deep breath. 'Buffy, if he is offering help we may need it. While not given predictions he is known to appear where he is most needed. We should be careful.' Then he frowned as he thought of something. 'Where is this bird you mentioned?'

'I left him outside, Why?' Buffy asked as a scream came from upstairs and Olivia came running down, waving her hands in the air. She was quickly followed by what Giles would tentatively call an eagle. It was huge, with a wingspan that he wouldn't have believed were it not swooping around his living room. 'You left a window open?' Buffy asked, ducking into the kitchen

Giles followed her as he saw Olivia lock herself in the bathroom. The bird itself found a place on one of his book cases and he for one wasn't going to argue with it. 'Yes, it appears so.'

'Oh. Any idea what birds eat? As in not us?'

* * *

At what was once the Crawford mansion Xander Harris rolled his shoulders. 'I should have told her, Akachi.' He told his new friend, 'She'd understand. They all would.'

He'd told the old man that at least a dozen times, and each time he just got that same understanding, sympathetic look. 'Perhaps someday, when both of you are ready. But now, Ghost Who Walks, you are still learning.'

'I get the feeling I'm always going to be learning.' Xander pointed out as he pulled off the mask.

'That, master, is your first lesson.'

End Ghost Who Walks


End file.
